Tuesday, October 11, 2011

The true value of Publicity..

What is the true value of Publicity?

This is a controversial issue and many people have differing opinions, in case you may be interested, here is mine…

For obvious reasons, I am passionate about Public Relations and a strong believer that gaining editorial and product placement for our clients as we do every day here at Magnet PR & Events, is a powerful and creative tool for promoting businesses, brands and concepts…..and obviously there is a great demand for this kind of publicity!

I happened to start my career in Advertising and whilst working for Mojo Partners and Young and Rubican found out that Advertising has its place as well. I worked on corporate campaigns for the launch of Telstra.com and many well-known FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Goods) whereby a clever Advertising strategy is paramount. We all catch ourselves saying “Have you seen that dumb AD on TV at the moment for Toohey’s New, where the guy falls into the bath of ice…” just the fact that you have spoken about this to your friend, makes this expensive advertising campaign work in boosting the brand’s recognition to be top of your mind.

PR is editorial based, therefore the client pays nothing to the media to get their company featured. Once a magazine reader has read a story or the TV viewer has seen a show which appeals to them about a topical issue they relate to featuring our clients, they are more likely to buy that product or book in with that expert is featured – therefore PR is more credible than Advertising as you have the journalists endorsement and finds you fit enough to tell the world about.

For newer brands launching on the market, a clever Public Relations strategy is the way forward to launch and generate awareness of that brand. You see journalists love the next big thing, they are constantly on the lookout for new and exciting products/people and stories they can write about in their pages. It’s a clever publicist’s job to get journalists excited about our clients brands and therefore featured amongst their pages. This not only wins big brownie points with clients as it gets their phones ringing, website hits souring and people talking about them. As the years go by, it never fails to make me happy to watch a client’s excitement as I show them an exciting piece of press we have obtained for them. Their confidence grows more and more when they go through the process of being shot for a story or interviewed for an article…PR becomes a pleasurable drug or an addictive substance…once they have a taste of fame, they want MORE!

Magnet PR & Events has produced awesome PR results for many brands over the years, see here for our client base. We worked managing the PR for 5 years with Planet Cake, Australia’s largest couture cake decorating business as well as obtaining over 25 articles in the press for ISCD over a year. We have launched many popular dining establishments in Sydney such as Firefly Bar and Bacco Wine Bar Pasticceria and also the ever so popular Rambutan.

All in all, what some people don’t understand that there is a creative and extremely strategic method that goes into securing good PR for a brand or business and it does not come easy. Therefore we like to work with clients who actually appreciate and understand how the process of securing press for them is actually a fine art to respect and be grateful for. Once we have secured your name in the media, it is there forever, it is the gift that keeps on giving!

Best wishes from PR land….I will leave you with a few examples of some of my favourite PR placements.